Vending Labeling Sales and Intercepts Study

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Obesity; Weight Gain; Food Preferences
• Interventions: Behavioral: exposure to healthy labels only; Behavioral: exposure to sweetened beverage tax messaging; Behavioral: exposure to healthiness information; Behavioral: exposure to physical activity equivalents

• Registration Number: NCT06260176
• Lead Sponsor: University of Pennsylvania

Brief Summary

The aim of this study is to compare the impact of 4 different types of front of package (FOP) food and beverage messages: 1) green labels on healthy foods, 2) red/yellow/green labels on less healthy/moderately healthy/healthy foods, 3) physical activity calorie equivalent labels, and 4) posters reminding consumers of the sweetened beverage tax on consumers' beverage and snack selections.

Detailed Description

This project involves a randomized field experiment. The investigators worked with the vending contractor for the City of Philadelphia to randomize vending machine locations (covering \~260 beverage and snack machines) to one of the four different message conditions: 1) single green traffic light labels (on healthy foods); 2) multiple traffic light labels (red traffic light labels applied to less healthy foods, yellow applied to moderately healthy foods, and green on healthy foods); 3) physical activity labels (calorie content displayed in terms of physical activity equivalents); 4) posters reminding consumers of the Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax and encouraging healthier choices. The City's vending machine contractors provided monthly aggregated sales data from each machine for analysis. Customer intercepts were also collected at the point of sale, after customers completed their purchase, to evaluate factors that moderate message influence. They were asked to answer questions about their perceptions of the different labels.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2019-02-01
• Primary Completion: 2020-03-12
• Study Completion: 2020-03-12
• Study First Submitted: 2024-01-29
• Status Verified: 2024-02
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-02-06
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-02-06
• Study First Posted: 2024-02-15
• Last Update Posted: 2024-02-15

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 1065

Inclusion Criteria

• Any person aged 18 or older making a purchase from the vending machines included in this intervention will be asked to participate in this study.

Exclusion Criteria

• People who indicate they have already taken the survey are not eligible to take the survey again.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Green labels	exposure to healthy labels only	green label added to healthy product slots; no additional labels shown for "less healthy" products and 1 poster per machine explaining the labels
Sweetened beverage tax posters	exposure to sweetened beverage tax messaging	1 poster per machine; no labels; posters reminded consumers of the Philadelphia sweetened beverage tax and encouraging healthier choices
Traffic light labels	exposure to healthiness information	red/yellow/green labels added to slots for less healthy/moderately healthy/healthy products, respectively and 1 poster per machine explaining the labels
Physical activity calorie equivalent labels	exposure to physical activity equivalents	labels added to slots that display products' calorie content in terms of physical activity required to burn those calories and 1 poster per machine explaining the labels

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Likelihood of selecting a healthy beverage	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly beverages selected were healthy beverages (green labeled in the traffic light condition)
Likelihood of selecting a less healthy snack	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly snacks selected were less healthy snacks (red labeled in the traffic light condition)
Calories sold from snacks per month	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is calories in snacks sold per month.
Percentage of beverages sold with calories per month	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly beverages selected that had calories
Calories sold from beverages per month, if beverages with calories sold	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is calories in beverages sold per month - only for beverages with calories.
Likelihood of selecting a moderately healthy beverage	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly beverages selected were moderately healthy beverages (yellow labeled in the traffic light condition)
Likelihood of selecting a less healthy beverage	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly beverages selected were less healthy beverages (red labeled in the traffic light condition)
Likelihood of selecting a healthy snack	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly snacks selected were healthy snacks (green labeled in the traffic light condition)
Likelihood of selecting a moderately healthy snack	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is percentage of monthly snacks selected were moderately healthy snacks (yellow labeled in the traffic light condition)
Total beverage units sold per month per machine.	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is number of monthly beverages sold per machine
Total snack units sold per month per machine	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is number of monthly snacks sold per machine

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Total calories sold per customer trip	5-minute survey	Customer purchase assessments will be conducted in front of study machines. Outcome is total number of calories (beverage + snack) purchased per customer trip.
Total revenue per month per beverage machine	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is the total dollar sales per month per beverage machine.
Total revenue per month per snack machine	Every month, for 13 months	Outcome is the total dollar sales per month per snack machine.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University of Pennsylvania; 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States